Still room on the netbook bandwagon for Nokia + Linux + ARM

Nokia is hinting that it may further crowd the already-packed netbook space by …

This whole netbook thing is rapidly getting out of hand, and we're fast approaching a situation where every last company (including ODMs) in any corner of the PC or mobile space will have jumped on the netbook bandwagon. A case in point is Nokia, which, faced with tanking revenues in its high-margin handset business, is making ever-louder noises about getting into laptops.

In an interview with Finnish TV summarized by Reuters, Nokia didn't appear to use the n-word (we haven't seen a full transcript, though), but there was plenty of talk of PCs and mobiles converging, and how Nokia is "looking very actively" at this convergence. The question that the report leaves open is "what kind of 'laptop' is Nokia considering?"

The obvious answer would be that Nokia plans to jump into the PC market with an Atom-based netbook, and that may well be the case. But we could just as easily see the company using a combination of ARM and Linux to squeeze itself onto the incredibly crowded netbook bandwagon. It all depends on Nokia's timing.

If the planned mobile is a near-term product for 2009 or even 2010, then Atom or Intel's upcoming Moorestown makes the most sense. The only near-term ARM options could power a "netbook" device with a very lightweight, highly optimized mobile Linux stack that's basically a Web tablet (� la the N810) with a full-sized screen and keyboard. This doesn't seem that compelling, though. But if the target date is 2011, it will probably be ARM-based in order to leverage Nokia's substantial investments in ARM hardware and software, and in an ARM-based supply chain.

Given Nokia's recent moves, we're leaning towards the idea that Nokia will release an ARM-based netbook in 2011, instead of (or in addition to) a more traditional Intel-based netbook. Here's why.

Nokia's Linux push

Nokia has invested considerable resources in building a robust Linux-based platform for ARM. The Maemo operating system, which is used on the company's Internet Tablet devices, provides a relatively complete stack that could easily be adapted to run on a laptop.

The next generation of the Maemo platform is being built to run on OMAP3 and is designed to leverage the chip's more robust processing power. Unlike the current generation of Internet Tablet devices, the next generation will get much closer to a laptop-like experience in terms of performance. Going from an ARM-based touchscreen tablet to an ARM-based netbook isn't such a big jump when you look at the capabilities that Maemo 5 is being engineered to deliver.

Another factor worth considering is the Ubuntu ARM port. Nokia sponsored a group called the Handheld Mojo team that developed an unofficial Ubuntu port for ARM processors. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, recently announced its own official ARM port which will be made available when Ubuntu 9.04 is released in April. Canonical has also put a lot of effort into developing user interfaces that are specifically tailored for netbooks.

So Nokia could adapt Maemo to make it netbook-friendly, it could adopt the Ubuntu ARM port, or it could create a hybrid that leverages components of both. The hybrid possibility isn't as far-fetched as it sounds in this case, as there is a lot of overlap between the technologies that are used in Ubuntu and in Maemo. Both are Debian-based platforms, and they're both closely tied to the GNOME ecosystem. There are a lot of shared components at many different layers of the stack.

The hardware possibilities

In terms of the processor, the two most obvious candidates for ARM-based Nokia netbooks are the OMAP 3 and OMAP 4 processor families from TI. The OMAP 3 family is just now starting to make its way out into the market in force, and its highest-profile design win to date is Palm's forthcoming Pre. We won't describe OMAP 3 here, since we've covered it in previous Palm coverage, but it's worth noting that it's a relatively weak netbook candidate. With only one in-order Cortex A8 core, the OMAP 3 series is much more suited to phones and PMPs than it is to an actual "netbook"-caliber device. A case in point is this recent Engadget post, which shows the OMAP 3 struggling under the strain of Windows Mobile 6.5.

Of course, TI will migrate the next entry in the OMAP 3 family, the 3600 series, to a 45nm fab process, and this will boost performance while cutting power consumption. The company also claims a major boost in graphics performance for this newer series, due out next year, but the degree to which it touts 720p HD video decoding in its press release indicates that most of this boost is in the video decode department. Still, they should also see some bump in overall performance, from the increase in clockspeed and from improvements to the GPU core.

A much more likely candidate for a Nokia netbook is the OMAP 4 series, which was just announced earlier this month. OMAP 4 will also be 45nm, and its line sports a dual-core Cortex A9 along with a GPU by PowerVR. Clockspeeds on these parts will go above 1GHz on the top end, and they should easily be capable of powering a Linux-based netbook.

TI OMAP 4 block diagram. Source: TI

These chips probably won't go into production until the second half of this year, and they'll start showing up in devices in 2011. By that time, rival Intel will be well into the "tock" cycle of its newly accelerated 32nm production, and should be starting on 22nm parts. Intel's 32nm Moorestown successors will be very cheap to produce and sell, and will give a 32nm OMAP 4 a run for its money.

Ultimately, though we consider an ARM-based Linux netbook to be Nokia's most likely entry into the netbook market, an Intel-based product from the phonemaker remains a distinct possibility. Nokia's combination of industrial design prowess, wireless provider relationships, and manufacturing music could turn the low-cost Atom platform into a fairly compelling netbook product, albeit one that would have a hard time standing out in an increasingly crowded field.

13 Reader Comments

As an avid fan of Maemo and the Internet Tablet (as much as a non-owner can be a fan), I would be disheartened if Nokia did not put all its efforts into making Maemo a strong challenger to the current Netbook hegemony. Build on the great spirit of the enthusiast community to pull Maemo into the mainstream.

Until more than one core logic exists, we don't need any more Atom netbooks on the market. It is well an thoroughly saturated. I'd love to see Nokia do an ARM-based netbook, if only because it's something different.

That being said... man, I'd be upset if they used Gnome. Not that I have any particular beef with it, it just doesn't suit my preferences. And Nokia bought Trolltech, makers of Qt. I'm not going to try and say Qt is better than GTK, but if I owned the toolkit, I'd leverage it for all it's worth.

Jeffro-Tull, from Nokia's perspective, Qt probably is better than GTK. Why? Because it's C++, as is Symbian. And they are already working on (or maybe finished?) an S60 Qt port. Which, when combined with another ARM platform, for all intents and purposes, means write once, use everywhere in the nokia ecosystem with just a simple recompile.

I have to say, a netbook with essentially the S60 touch interface would be nice. Maybe not as nice as the Maemo interface, but I loathe gnome. But expanding symbian/S60 onto portable, non-phone devices actually is starting to sound like a good idea to me...as long as it is of the touch variety. I mean, that's basically what the N97 is. Just smaller. And with a phone.

I don't think the full value of this new entry should be underestimated. This is the first Japanese entry after all. Anyone who says a Japanese company shouldn't be interested in the netbook market is off his/her rocker. Furthermore, this is a telecommunications giant - I can't help but see a Japanese + telecommunications giant = innovative product that will have mass appeal and sales.

Furthermore, ARM sells more CPUs than anyone in the market, including Intel. Imagining them supply netbooks with CPUs that are powerful enough for basic word processing, web surfing, and telecommunications isn't far fetched. Surely they're interested in denting the entry level computing market.

Originally posted by wordsworm:I don't think the full value of this new entry should be underestimated. This is the first Japanese entry after all. Anyone who says a Japanese company shouldn't be interested in the netbook market is off his/her rocker. Furthermore, this is a telecommunications giant - I can't help but see a Japanese + telecommunications giant = innovative product that will have mass appeal and sales.

It's a nice theory, except that Nokia isn't a Japanese company, or even close to one.

Originally posted by wordsworm:I don't think the full value of this new entry should be underestimated. This is the first Japanese entry after all. Anyone who says a Japanese company shouldn't be interested in the netbook market is off his/her rocker. Furthermore, this is a telecommunications giant - I can't help but see a Japanese + telecommunications giant = innovative product that will have mass appeal and sales.

It's a nice theory, except that Nokia isn't a Japanese company, or even close to one.

+ (IIRC) Sony allready entered this market.

Also, having watched the interview in quetion on finnish TV, I dont take this possibility very seriously. It was very heated discussion mainly focusing on Lex Nokia. The "we are looking very actively at this market" bit came after very leading question from the interviewer and sounded very diplomatic.

The nice about it is that explains better why Nokia bought Qt last year saying that it would help them build software for both cellphones and desktop

If you don't know Qt, it's a C++ framework for multi-platform software development. The nice part of it is that you can write a desktop application and without changing *any* line of code you can compile it to S60, Linux, WinMobile, WinCe and more

What's really sad is that the ARM Cortex-A9 MP was first made available in 2006, and only the dual core variant will be made in 2011. Just think how much power is wasted each year by consumer owned x86 based PCs that are just used to check e-mail and browse the internet. These consumers likely own computers ranging from Pentium 4s to Core 2 Duos, while a quite cheap multicore ARM would provide the same function in a much smaller form factor, without the need for a noisy fan.

Originally posted by wordsworm:Furthermore, ARM sells more CPUs than anyone in the market, including Intel.

A direct comparison is meaningless because of their very different businessmodel.

ARM doesn't sell CPUs. It licenses RTL code for its CPUs that *other* companiesincorporate into ASICs and SoCs. For each ARM processor that somebody elsesells in *their* chip ARM receives about a dime in licensing/royalty. In contrastIntel makes and sells processors under its own brand and gets an average priceof over $100 last I heard.

Originally posted by LavosPhoenix:Just think how much power is wasted each year by consumer owned x86 based PCs that are just used to check e-mail and browse the internet. These consumers likely own computers ranging from Pentium 4s to Core 2 Duos, while a quite cheap multicore ARM would provide the same function in a much smaller form factor, without the need for a noisy fan

Iyonix. An ARM-powered home computer, since 2002. It can run Linux, but runs the ultra-lightweight "RISC OS" operating system -- a software ecosystem that has a port of Firefox which was deemed bloated for requiring 24 MiB of RAM. It suffers from low sales nubers = high cost to produce.

"A case in point is this recent Engadget post, which shows the OMAP 3 struggling under the strain of Windows Mobile 6.5. "

That was a completely POINTLESS comment. The 800mhz Cortex-A8 in the OMAP3 screams compared to say the ~300-400mhz ARM11 processors used in most current smartphones.

The problem was with the early, bloated, unoptimized version of Windows Mobile 6.5. Not that it will get much better, as Microsoft's WinCE/WinMobile infrastructure is ancient, with a compiler that targets the ARM instruction set from many years in the past and doesn't even natively use the FP unit or SSE instructions of newer ARM processors.

Put the Cortex-A8 in an iPhone, Palm Pre, Nokia tablet, etc and it will fly.